Edmonton, AB – Today, James Cumming, Conservative Shadow Minister for Small Business and Export Promotion, issued the following statement regarding the Trudeau government’s decision to expand the eligibility criteria for the Canada Emergency Business Account:

“Canada’s Conservatives are committed to helping Canadian business owners and workers through these trying times. Last month, after the Liberal government introduced the Canada Emergency Business Account, Conservatives put forward two practical, common sense proposals to help fix the program’s senseless rules that excluded many deserving businesses. These included removing the requirement to have a business account to qualify for the CEBA, as well as expanding the eligibility criteria for the CEBA, so more small businesses qualify for the $40,000 loan.

“Today, the Liberal government announced that they are implementing one of our proposed changes, expanding the eligibility criteria to allow more small businesses – including sole proprietors, and dividend earners – to apply for the CEBA. This change will allow small businesses, such as the family-run business that typically has little cash to cushion catastrophic surprises like the COVID-19 shutdown, to get the support that they desperately need.

“While this change will help some small businesses that have been let down by the Trudeau government’s non-sensical barriers to qualify for support, Conservatives are still calling on the government to make the CEBA more accessible to businesses by removing the requirement to have a business account.

“Canada’s Conservatives will continue to put forward practical, common sense solutions to fix the Trudeau government’s programs, so that no small business falls through the cracks.”